Determined settlers

In 1854 the Ahuroa/Kourawhero land purchase was made by the Crown from Te-Kawerau who were Ngati Whatua and Te Kiri of Ngati Wai. Land sales which began in December 1859 were well-timed for newly arrived immigrants eager to take up land under the forty-acre scheme. These were fare paying passengers who had come on such ships as the Shalimar and the Shooting Star.

In 1873 a visitor to the settlement wrote of finding well-fenced farms and gardens, families were living in substantial homes and their former life in the wilderness living in raupo huts and nikau whares was now something to joke about. At least two of the farms had gained much needed capital from the Thames goldfields.

A church had been built which doubled as a schoolhouse and although there was no resident minister, regular services were held.

It was noted that a large tract of uncultivated land where only flax grew lay vacant due to the difficulties involved in drainage. This was the site of the second Kourawhero settlement when land was made available to returned soldiers after World War I. Few records could be found in the way of diaries or family histories for this interesting era of settlement. It is known that the challenge presented by the land, and the extremely hard economic times, proved too much for some, but a nucleus of families stayed on to see the farms become productive. In the words of Mrs Violet Hatfull when interviewed on her 100th birthday, “the first 25 years were the hardest.”

Note: I believe Kourawhero is the correct spelling, sometimes seen as Kourowhero.

Photo: St. Clement's Church Kourawhero, built in the 1860s, was moved to Kaukapakapa by rail and bullock wagon in the 1920s. The cemetery contains graves of the early settlers.